So Close
by HC247
Summary: He knew he should have stayed. He was close..too close for comfort. And it scared him like nothing before...Musicalverse Fiyeraba


"Well! Aren't you going to do something!"

"Uh.." Speechless, he could only stare dumbly at the elusive girl in front of him, taking in her tense stance, wild eyes, and flailing arms. Her white blouse forced on her by his girlfriend strained a bit too noticeably against her torso. _Down boy_

She was through waiting for him to come up with an answer. "Do you think I want to be this way? Do you think I want to care this much? Don't you know how much easier my life would be if I didn't?"

Wait…what? "Do you ever let anyone else talk?" he snapped

She stopped then, turning dark eyes on him. They had lost some of their fight. "Oh, sorry... But can I just say one more thing?" He sighed and raised a brow, but offered her the floor. Her voice was quiet as she spoke, "You could have just walked away back there."

What did that matter? "So?"

"So," she murmured, a slight smile gracing her thin lips, "No matter how shallow and self-absorbed you tend to be..."

Was she mad? "Excuse me, there's no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow. "

The smile remained on her face, "No you're not. Or you wouldn't be so unhappy."

Immediately, his defenses went up and anger ignited in his veins. Who did this girl think she was? They had conversed a maximum of five times at best and she had done nothing more but insult him. And yet he found a strange fascination in seeing how far he could push her. He wasn't normally an instigator, but when it came to Elphaba Thropp, the challenge was too good to pass off. Instead, he controlled his annoyance, plastered a cocky smirk of his handsome face and replied, "Alright, fine. Listen, if you don't want my help."

A hand on his arm stopped him. "No!" the urgency in her voice stopped him and when he turned back to face her, he was surprised to see something different in her eyes. Instead of the suspicion and hardness they usually held, there was a pleading and a sense of compassion. "I do. Please, Fiyero. I'm sorry." The softness in her voice startled him and he sank to the ground without a second thought, lost in the way it wrapped itself around him like a comforting embrace.

It was only when the cub between them whimpered softly that her hand was still resting on his forearm. Elphaba immediately released him and turned her attention back to the caged Animal. "Oh, the poor thing," her eyes came back to his. " It's heart is racing. I didn't mean to scare him."

Fiyero held her gaze, his arm cold from her lack of contact. "That what did you mean to do," he whispered, "And why was I the only one you didn't do it to?"

Her mouth opened slightly, then closed as she lent closer, informing him of something or other. He thought he caught the word 'bleeding' and 'cub". All conscious thought was lost to the sensation of her hands on his face. She held him softly, as though he might break if she touched him any harder. Her fingertips stroked his cheek gently, causing his eyes to fall shut and unconsciously lean closer. He thought he heard his own voice somewhere in the distance, some sort of acknowledgement or explanation to her comment, but he couldn't be sure. Frankly, he could have cared less.

His eyes opened a second later to find himself inches from her, those dark eyes studying him as if he were some complex problem that she couldn't quite figure out. _Welcome to the club. _In that moment, he had no idea who he was, why he was here, or why he was enjoying this so blasted much. Shifting lightly, his own hand came to cover hers for a moment, drawing her impossibly closer, tilting his head just slightly. Just few inches closer….

No.

He drew back quickly, alarmed over how close he had been to becoming completely undone. "I…I have to go." Grabbing the cage, he left her behind, sitting on the forest floor, utterly confused and calling his name for an answer he might be able to give her. Guilt clawed at his conscience, but he pushed it away. How could he give her answers when he had none of his own? His heart had told him to stay, to close those few breaths and kiss the enigma of a woman whom he had never bothered to notice before. He had been so, so close to doing just that before reason had gotten the better of him. But now he was running, just as he always had when he wasn't in control or things got a bit cloudy.

And he didn't know how much he would regret it until she was gone.

He spent the next three years of his life wondering what would have happened had he done what he should have/. How different his life might have been. How different _he might_ have been. But then again, he realized, that was why he was searching so hard to find her.

So that he might have the chance to find out.

So on he searched, endlessly, tirelessly searched until he had exhausted all but the most fragile strand of hope. He had even gone as far as to promise himself to another, but he never gave up entirely.

He was rewarded one fine day, when he was feeling exceptionally hopeless, that he answered a call to the throne room, only to be greeted by the very sight he had longed to see. She looked different; time tends to change a person like that, but even as the guards were called, his fiancée rushed in, and the truth came out, when the time came, he knew what he had to do,

"I'm going with her."

She didn't believe him, called him every kind of fool, yet nothing she said could have stopped him. He may have been a coward before, running when he should have stayed. He had come so close too many times before.

This time, he had barely pulled her from the room before he stopped them suddenly, taking a moment to give her the kiss he owed her two years coming.

This time, hell would freeze over before he let this precious moment slip from his grasp again.


End file.
